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Voices: Arizona's anti-gay bill is shameful

The United States has been a unique melting pot for the world over two centuries because we have enshrined in our laws the principle of equality for all, regardless of race, religion, gender or culture.

The United States has long been a unique melting pot for the world because we have enshrined in our laws the principle of equality for all, regardless of race, religion, gender or culture.

True, we have been slow to stamp out discrimination against women, blacks, Jews, native Americans and, now, same-sex couples. But we have always wound up in the right place.

So anyone who cherishes our pluralistic society should be outraged that Arizona's Legislature has passed a bill that would grant businesses the right to cite religious beliefs as a justification for refusing to serve same-sex couples. These intolerant lawmakers must be nostalgic for Jim Crow laws.

I'm curious how a business would even know which customers are gay. Would you have to sign a statement that you are heterosexual as a condition to being served? If two women are holding hands, does that make them a same-sex couple, or are they just sisters? If two men kiss in a store, are they gay or…maybe, just French?

And if religious beliefs are a justification for refusing gay couples, shouldn't Arizona extend the principle to all religious beliefs? Devout Muslims should have the right to refuse service to women who are not covered in burqas. Christian Scientists should have the right to deny service to doctors and nurses or anyone who has health insurance. Hindus could refuse to serve anyone who likes to chow down on a hamburger. Atheists? You'd be out of luck just about everywhere.

The reaction to the law's passage by the Arizona business community has been disheartening. Rather than oppose it on moral grounds for being egregiously discriminatory, it cites worries about an economic backlash.

The Greater Phoenix Economic Council has urged Gov. Jan Brewer to veto the measure because a boycott by defenders of gay rights could harm the economy. To me, the argument falls far short. It is reminiscent of German businesses that fretted about the loss of Jews' purchasing power during the Nazi's reign.

There is a legitimate debate about finding the line between protection for one's religious beliefs and bigotry. The U.S. Supreme Court is taking up a case about the right of an employer to deny employees health coverage for contraceptives because of religious beliefs. And we recognize that places of worship and religious organizations are entitled to special protections and exemptions from laws that apply to the rest of us.

But a broad license by business to discriminate against members of the public runs counter to everything we stand for as a nation. Perhaps, as some opponents of the bill have suggested in jest, businesses should be allowed to refuse service to Arizona legislators. After all, aren't they violating the religious tenet that we are all equal in the eyes of God?

It isn't easy to preserve a tolerant society in a nation of more than 300 million people who represent such a diversity of religions and cultures. Then again, our toughest challenges as a society are about protecting principles we cherish the most in the face of often popular efforts to chip away at them. That's what makes them so precious.

For Gov. Brewer, who hasn't said what she will do when the bill comes to her desk this week, the choice should be easy. To use a four-letter word: veto.